On This Day in 1998: January 18 marks the day when India made a world record for the highest run chase in ODI cricket. In January 1998, a tournament was organised by Bangladesh to commemorate the 25 years of the nation’s independence. The ODI cricket tournament was held at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, and the teams playing were all part of the Indian subcontinent before the partition – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
The Silver Jubilee Independence Cup fostered a rather unusual Round-robin league format among the three participating teams. According to the format, three league matches were to be played between India, Pakistan, and the host, Bangladesh. After the league matches, the two winners had to face each other in best-of-three final matches.
For the first time, the number of finals was equal to the league matches in the tournament. The tournament was filled with exciting bouts between the teams, and at the conclusion of the league matches, India and Pakistan surfaced as the two finalists.
The first final, held on January 14, was the match that made Sachin Tendulkar the youngest player to reach 6,000 runs in ODIs. Tendulkar was 24 years old at that time. India won the first final, followed by a loss in the second one, held on January 16, where Pakistan won by 6 wickets.
The third and the last final, held on January 18, saw one of the best performances in cricket history as India was facing the daunting task of chasing a monumental target of 314 runs. Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed set the record for the highest partnership of 230 runs for the third wicket.
As India entered the pitch to chase the massive target, the baton to win was primarily carried by Sourav Ganguly, Robin Singh, and Sachin Tendulkar, with 124, 82, and 41 runs. India chased down the target with just one ball remaining.
Here is the final winning moment from the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup 1998:
That day, India broke Sri Lanka’s record, which chased a target of 312 runs, playing against Zimbabwe in 1992.
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